Public health officials and regulators who have battled for years against smoking may be inadvertently bolstering the tobacco market with their strong stand against e-cigarettes, some financial analysts say.

While certain experts view the products as a potentially game-changing safe alternative to smoking, many health organizations have warned of their possible dangers. Canada’s federal government effectively outlaws nicotine-containing versions of the devices.

The drum beat of opposition seems to have picked up in recent weeks, with public-health agencies in Ontario and B.C. recommending crackdowns on e-cigarettes, worrying they could normalize smoking or act as gateways to tobacco itself.

That kind of “highly suspicious” approach may be having unintended consequences, suggests a new report to investors from Germany’s Berenberg bank.

Regulators have reinforced the position of [conventional] cigarettes for many consumers

The three London-based analysts who wrote the review say they are “more bullish on global tobacco than ever,” citing a variety of factors. One is that the threat to conventional cigarettes from e-cigarettes seems to be shrinking, partly because public-health officials are casting doubt on their safety and restricting their use.

“Our medium-term view is that the regulators have reinforced the position of [conventional] cigarettes for many consumers,” they say.

Indeed, some analysts — and e-cigarette business people — have wondered behind the scenes if opponents of such technology are getting paid by Big Tobacco, said David Sweanor, an adjunct law professor at the University of Ottawa and long-time anti-smoking advocate.

He does not believe anyone is really on the take but said it highlights the unconscious impact of critics’ “absolutist” views.

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images; Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press

“You can’t attack a safer option to something without invariably aiding the more risky option,” said Mr. Sweanor. “But in any abstinence-only campaign, people miss that.”

The notion that public health is somehow playing into the hands of the tobacco industry, however, is firmly rejected by the likes of Toronto’s health department. Similar to Vancouver Coastal Health, it recently recommended that e-cigarette “vaping” be restricted in public places the same way smoking is.

Officials do not want a ban on the devices — many of which are now being made by tobacco companies themselves — but feel they should not be advertised and that use be restricted in public, said Monica Campbell, the unit’s public policy director.

“We need to be mindful of the entire population, and particularly young people,” she said. “Having them widely used … does create this image for people that this is normal, that smoking or vaping is normal.”

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat up a liquid, creating vapour that users inhale much as they would smoke a cigarette. The liquid usually contains nicotine, satisfying cravings without, in theory, delivering the array of carcinogens generated by burning tobacco. Though officially banned in Canada, the nicotine-containing liquid is widely sold here.

Many ex-smokers say the devices have helped them quit the way nothing else could.

Scientific evidence of their effectiveness as a tobacco-cessation tool is limited, however, and public-health officials warn the devices could re-normalize smoking after years of work to discourage the habit, and lead non-smoking young people to cigarettes by hooking them on nicotine.

There is also concern about the safety of the vapour itself, though a study of its ingredients just published in the journal BMC Public Health concluded it posed virtually no risk to users.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/ Tim Ireland

Another industry analyst said there is limited sales data to determine exactly what impact the electronic alternatives are having.

But anecdotal evidence suggests sales of the devices are slowing as their role is questioned — perhaps because many conventional cigarette manufacturers have bought e-cigarette companies, said Jonathan Fell of Britain’s Ash Park Capital.

“Absolutely some suspicion is warranted, but it’s almost like [public-health] people regard e-cigarettes as bad products because of the people who are now selling them,” he said. “They are locked into a sort of dogmatic view.”

One of those public-health advocates said she makes no apologies for criticizing e-cigarettes, arguing there is zero evidence they are any safer, and that they could ultimately allow tobacco companies to create even more harm.

“We would like e-cigarettes to be treated as tobacco — we see them as an extension of the same product,” said Dr Meena Dawar, medical health officer with Vancouver Coastal. “[They have] a huge potential to undermine the gains we have made in tobacco control.”